Aruba Networks has given its edge service platform with a new set of AI and IoT features, while boosting the security capabilities of Aruba Central – the cloud-native, AI-powered network management and analytics platform that sits at the heart of Aruba Edge Services Platform (ESP).
The year-old Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) is designed to streamline network operations and maximise IT efficiency for enterprises. As part of Aruba ESP, Aruba Central has experienced significant growth. To date, Aruba Central manages over 100 million client endpoints and 1.5 million devices across 100,000 organisations around the world.
Also, the HPE-owned company is introducing new additions to its CX Switching portfolio, which are purpose-built for the intelligent edge.
The company announced the new advancements yesterday at the HPE Discover 2021: The Edge-to-Cloud Conference.
With these upgrades, Aruba seeks to provide a seamless, unified infrastructure that delivers new levels of agility and simplicity, which are especially important in today’s highly distributed enterprise environment.
IT analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) said distributed enterprise is here to stay, especially as organisations seek ways to maximise flexibility and build resiliency into their businesses to adapt quickly to whatever challenges may arise.
“Our research has shown that enterprises are accelerating their digital transformation initiatives and prioritizing projects that enhance productivity, security and collaboration, however, these highly distributed environments create more IT complexity. Therefore, there’s a real appetite in the market for technologies and solutions that leverage data and automation to increase agility and streamline operations,” said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst and practice director at ESG.
Aruba seeks to help enterprise customers to realise this network simplification through ongoing advancements to Aruba Central and ArubaOS 10 (AOS 10), a unified network operating system that brings together WLAN and SD-Branch capabilities.
In this manner, IT can effectively manage a distributed network environment across microbranch, branch, and campus environments and deliver a high-quality user experience using a single architecture, orchestrated from a single management console.
Meanwhile, the new cloud-native management capabilities in Aruba Central include:
- Self-healing AIOps that deliver on the promise of closed-loop remediation, so problems are automatically surfaced and fixed before end users or business performance are impacted, without requiring any manual effort on the behalf of IT operators
- A new IoT Operations service that extends network monitoring capabilities to sensors, connectors, and other IoT infrastructure, along with an integrated app store that enables customers to deploy best-of-breed applications from Aruba IoT partners in a few clicks
- New cloud-based authentication and policy capabilities that provide automated, secure network connectivity for end users across a wide range of devices, including SIM-enabled clients – providing a seamless user experience while easing operations for IT admins who manage network access
